Sugar

“White Gold” Sugar: Changing the World

About the Lecture

  • From the age of honey to the age of sugarcane, the “sweet reed.”
  • The rise of sugar and the cruel slavery, enslaved Black people in sugar cane plantations
  • The abolitionary movement and revolution in the United States, France, and Haiti
  • Abolition of slavery and the emergence of contract workers (new workers to produce sugar)

Mobility of Crops and World History

1. Tobacco: Is it god’s gift or smoke of the devil?
– Tobacco from ancient Maya times and cigarette rod made by baking clay
– Discovery of tobacco by Columbus and spread it to Europe
– From treatment to major products that increase health
– Politics of tobacco, changes in the form of tobacco
– Meaning of tobacco in Latin America (especially Cuba)

2. Sugar, ‘‘white gold“, changes the world
– From the age of honey to the age of sugar cane ‘sweet reed’
– The rise of sugar, brutal slavery of sugar cane plantations and importation of black slaves
– Anti-slavery movement and revolution in the US, France and Haiti
– Abolition of slavery systems and birth of contract workers (new workers for producing sugar)